Biocentrism ~ by Robert Lanza

Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe ~ by Robert Lanza and Bob Berman, 2009

Every now and then, a simple yet radical idea shakes the very foundations of knowledge. The startling discovery that the world was not flat challenged and ultimately changed the way people perceived themselves and their relationships with the world. “If the earth were really round,” it was argued, “Then the people at the bottom would fall off.” For most humans of the 15th century, the notion of Earth as ball of rock was nonsense. The whole of Western natural philosophy is undergoing a sea change again, forced upon us by the experimental findings of quantum theory. At the same time, these findings have increased our doubt and uncertainty about traditional physical explanations of the universe’s genesis and structure.

Biocentrism completes this shift in worldview, turning the planet upside down again with the revolutionary view that life creates the universe instead of the other way around. In this new paradigm, life is not just an accidental byproduct of the laws of physics.

Biocentrism takes the reader on a seemingly improbable but ultimately inescapable journey through a foreign universe — our own — from the viewpoints of an acclaimed biologist and a leading astronomer. Switching perspective from physics to biology unlocks the cages in which Western science has unwittingly managed to confine itself. Biocentrism shatters the reader’s ideas of life, time and space, and even death. At the same time, it releases us from the dull worldview that life is merely the activity of an admixture of carbon and a few other elements; it suggests the exhilarating possibility that life is fundamentally immortal.

The 21st century is predicted to be the century of biology, a shift from the previous century dominated by physics. It seems fitting, then, to turn the universe outside-in and unify the foundations of science with a simple idea discovered by one of the leading life-scientists of our age.  Biocentrism awakens in readers a new sense of possibility and is full of so many shocking new perspectives that the reader will never see reality the same way again.

VIDEOS

Theory of Biocentricism ~ Part 1
Theory of Biocentricism ~ Part 2

ARTICLE

Scientists Claim that Quantum Theory Proves Consciousness Moves to Another Universe at Death ~ January 2014

Lanza named one of the top 50 "World Thinkers"

Dr. Lanza was selected as one of Prospect Magazine’s “World Thinkers 2015.” The thinkers were chosen for “engaging in original and profound ways with the central questions of the world today,” as well as for their continuing significance for “this year’s biggest questions” (in economics, science, philosophy, cultural and social criticism and in politics).

— from Robert Lanza's web site

Rethinking Immortality ~ and Biocentrism

Rethinking Immortality ~ by Robert Lanza, 1990, science

Contemplation of time and the discoveries of modern science lead to the assertion that the mind is paramount and limitless.  A Facebook friend posted a link to the article Is Death an Illusion? and I remembered that I have Lanza's book on Biocentrism on my Kindle.  While reading that article about death, I added Rethinking Immortality to my Kindle.

Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe ~ by Robert Lanza and Bob Berman, 2009, science

Western natural philosophy is undergoing a sea change, forced upon us by the experimental findings of quantum theory, and at the same time, towards doubt and uncertainty in the physical explanations of the universe’s genesis and structure.  Biocentrism completes this shift in worldview with the revolutionary view that life creates the universe instead of the other way around.  Switching perspective from physics to biology shatters our ideas of life, time and space, and even death.  With this new sense of possibility, readers will never see reality the same way again.  I wrote a lot more about this book when I bought it in 2015.

Beyond Biocentrism: Rethinking Time, Space, Consciousness, and the Illusion of Death ~ by Robert Lanza, 2016, science

Biocentrism shocked the world with a radical rethinking of the nature of reality, but that was just the beginning.  In this book, Lanza and Berman re-examine everything we thought we knew about life, death, the universe, and the nature of reality itself.  Science increasingly points toward an infinite universe, but has no ability to explain what that really means.  Concepts such as time, space, and even causality are increasingly being demonstrated as meaningless.  All of science is based on information passing through our consciousness, but science hasn’t the foggiest idea what consciousness is and can’t explain the linkage between subatomic states and observation by conscious observers.

Science describes life as an random occurrence in a dead universe, but has no real understanding of how life began or why the universe appears to be exquisitely designed for the emergence of life.  The biocentrism theory isn’t a rejection of science.  Quite the opposite.  Biocentrism challenges us to fully accept the implications of the latest scientific findings in fields ranging from plant biology and cosmology to quantum entanglement and consciousness.  By listening to what the science is telling us, it becomes increasingly clear that life and consciousness are fundamental to any true understanding of the universe.  This forces a fundamental rethinking of everything we thought we knew about life, death, and our place in the universe.

Robert Lanza's web site has links to lots of articles.  Here are two:

(1)  How Life Creates the Universe
(2)  Is Death an Illusion?  Evidence Suggests Death Isn't the End

Jump Back Up ~ the theme for July

I have not posted a calendar from the Action for Happiness folks for awhile.  July's theme is Jump Back Up.  Click the calendar to enlarge it so you can read the suggestions.  Today, change "I can't" into "I can't ... yet."

In Colleen's Thirteen Thursday post, her #9 says:

I’m reading a book from the library that I requested they purchase.  It’s a Science fiction novel, a story based around real quantum physics theories called The Observer by Robert Lanza.  Here is an excerpt: "'Quantum foam' refers to the basic 'stuff' in the universe, the stuff that exists before you even get to basic particles such as electrons.  'Superposition' means that the quantum foam is not matter, nor energy, but the potential of becoming either.  It is, basically, just a cloud of probabilities.  That is really important.  Even when you do have that electron — as a part of an atom, for instance — it too is just a quantum foam probability becoming a particle or becoming a wave of energy.  Science has established that thoroughly and completely.

So we're still talking about Quantum Physics, huh?  I've written about Robert Lanza at least four times in the past (click HERE), so I'm very curious about this book.

The Observer ~ by Robert Lanza and Nancy Kress, 2022, science fiction (Caribbean), 395 pages

Caro Soames-Watkins, a talented neurosurgeon whose career has been upended by controversy, is jobless, broke, and the sole supporter of her sister, a single mother with a severely disabled child.  When she receives a strange job offer from Nobel Prize-winning scientist Sam Watkins, a great uncle she barely knows, desperation forces her to take it in spite of serious suspicions.

Watkins has built a mysterious medical facility in the Caribbean to conduct research into the nature of consciousness, reality, and life after death.  Helped in his mission by his old friend, eminent physicist George Weigert, and young tech entrepreneur Julian Dey, Sam has gone far beyond curing the body to develop a technology that could solve the riddle of mortality.  Two obstacles stand in their way:  someone on the inside is leaking intel, and Watkins' failing body must last long enough for the technology to be ready.  As danger mounts, Caro finds more than she bargained for, including murder, love, and a deeper understanding into the nature of reality.

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb Nance at Readerbuzz.

Sunday Salon ~ Kindle and family

KINDLE LIBRARY

2.  The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently ... and Why ~ by Richard Nisbett, 2003, psychology (critical thinking)

I'm more than halfway through this one and, though it's deep, I'm enjoying it so far.  It makes me think.

1.  The Story of a Pioneer ~ by Anna Howard Shaw, 1915, memoir, 8/10

I've already finished this one for my book club meeting on Tuesday.  It wasn't particularly interesting to me, but I did finish it.

3.  Anna Karenina ~ by Leo Tolstoy, 1877, fiction (Russia)

Once again, I have totally bogged down trying to slog through this long, long novel.  I abandoned it a few years ago and still hope to read all of it this time.

6.  The Universe Is Calling: Opening to the Divine Through Prayer ~ by Eric Butterworth, 1993, religion

I'm reading Butterworth's Discover the Power Within You (1968) for a group discussion and wanted to know how his thinking about prayer had evolved between 1968 and 1993.

4.  Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe ~ by Robert Lanza and Bob Berman, 2009, biology

A new paradigm which switches perspective from physics to biology.  Berman says life is not an accidental byproduct of the laws of physics.

5.  Booth Girls: A Love Story ~ by Joan Uda, 2013, fiction (Iowa), 10/10

Loved this one, which I read straight through.  Click on the title to read about the book.

I had trouble deciding what to call a section of this post about adding books to my new Kindle.  It isn't exactly "bookstore bounty" or "library loot" or "Monday mail."  Since these are the books I have now added to my Kindle library, why not simply "Kindle Library"?  Duh.

FAMILY

Today is my oldest granddaughter's 28th birthday.  She's on the right, with her younger brother and sister.  Happy birthday, Cali!

Bloggers gather in the Sunday Salon — at separate computers in different time zones — to talk about our lives and our reading.

Mind isn't confined to brain ― or even body

"It’s impossible to completely disentangle our subjective view of the world from our interactions."

Scott Shepard posted this link on Facebook, saying, "Fascinating blurb."  So I read the article.  I've been thinking about consciousness a lot lately, as I've read books by Michio Kaku and Robert Lanza, but my interest isn't new.  I read this book decades ago:

My paperback edition

Cosmic Consciousness: A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind ~ by Richard Maurice Bucke, 1900

This is a scientific study of illuminated individuals.  Bucke provides three dozen very consistent examples of "cosmic consciousness."  Some of these are the usual suspects, and others are contemporary case-histories he collected.  These enlightened figures, Bucke says, are evolutionary jumps, the predecessor of a more advanced species.

My Kindle edition

I just pulled two copies of this book from the shelves across the room; I bought a hardback edition in the 1970s and the paperback in 1985.  (I know because I wrote "bj 12/21/85" on the first page" when I was in my second year of seminary.)  While searching online for an image of the cover, I discovered there are multiple covers and that the book is now available for Kindle.  Usually it's an oversight when I buy a second copy of a book, but it costs only $2.99 for Kindle, so I bought a third version of it.  The Kindle "cover" I just got is shown on the left.

My hardback has a quote from William James on the front cover.

"I believe that you have brought this kind of consciousness 'home' to the attention of students of human nature in a way so definite and unescapable that it will be impossible henceforward to overlook or ignore it.  You are a benefactor of us all."